212
133 East 65th Street (at Lexington)

I was meeting someone for a late dinner and she suggested 212 -- a rather well-known trendy bar. I wasn't very familiar with it, but it had a reputation of being more of a night-spot than a restaurant. However, I went along with it.

As we dined at 8:30pm, it was sheer chaos -- compounded by the Thursday night effect. It was full of loud drunks and insane people. It took us awhile to get seated. I was losing my patience very quickly, as the bar was understaffed and overpriced (nearly 50 bucks for a vodka and a margarita?). And plus they can't reconcile the bar and restaurant charges? What kind of a joke operation is this?

By the time we were seated, I was fuming. If my dinner companion wasn't so good, I would have walked. However, despite the bad service and the waiters dropping things left and right, it was good that I stayed. The meal turned out to be quite satisfactory, not excellent, but good.

I enjoyed a beef carpaccio salad, which was nice. For a main course I had the hanger steak, which was done quite well. I've not had a good steak in awhile, so this was nice. We shared a chocolate souffle which was nice, and I washed it down with (rather unusual for me) some calvados.

The place was still loud, nasty and full of self-important drunks when we left. As nice as the food was, this is not a place I want to go back to -- to eat nor to drink. I can't stand people who are so bloody arrogant. If you do, this is your scene totally...

Food: B
Atmosphere: D-
For Lone Diners: F (*)